Growing up in a family where both my parents, two grandparents, cousins and aunts and uncles are all teachers, I guess it’s easy to say that teaching is in my blood. Although it took me a few years to realize education was the career I was always seeking, I’m not all that surprised. As a business major, I was very successful in my classes. When my friends struggled, I always found it easy to explain the concepts to them and had a knack of finding a way of putting it into terms they could best understand. I believe it was through this that I really realized I wanted to become a teacher. There are also many people and situations who influenced my decision to go into education, many of them years before I even got my driver’s license. Although I can’t name them all, here are a few people and situations that really inspired me to go into education.
In my first year in high school, I debated on whether to take honors biology as a freshman or begin in a comprehensive science class and take the college prep version as a sophomore. Knowing I had great interest in science, I decided I would take the challenge and take on this difficult class. This is where I met Ms. Meyer, who I can honestly say probably played the most influence on my decision to go into education. From the first day of school, Ms. Meyer had us exploring the world of science and learning through a variety of hands on activities and experiments. If a student had a question, rather than always explaining the answer she would show us by conducting an experiment. I wasn’t always the best student, mainly because I would become disinterested with the material. But Ms. Meyer really did a great job of finding fun and exciting ways to teach the even the most complex of material. Many of us saw Ms. Meyer not only as our favorite teacher, but also as a good friend and mentor. During study periods or after school, students would go to her room to do homework and talk to her about their sports and activities that were coming up, along with stuff that pertained to outside school. After having a rough time in middle school staying focused on my academics, Ms. Meyer really helped me to strive to my potential and taught me quality values I’ll likely never forget. As I go into education, I seek to share all the values and methods of teaching that Ms. Meyer has instilled on me.
A second person who truly influenced my decision to go into education was Mr. Stephen Desposito. He was a professor at the University of Rhode Island, and he was my professor for EDC 102, my first education class. I took the class just as an elective, knowing I would be interested in it and hoping to learn some things along the way. Little did I know how much of an impact he would have on me ultimately persuading me to change my major. Mr. D, as we called him, came into class teaching us how to really reach students in school. As a teacher, principal, and now college professor, he had many experiences with children in teaching and shared them with us. He often talked about how rewarding it felt to even touch one child’s life through teaching. It was through his stories and teachings that I realized that I too wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. Although Mr. D was only in my live for a few short months, I always looked up to him as both a mentor and a person who ultimately taught me what teaching was all about. Unfortunately, Mr. D passed away a few months after the conclusion of our class. I will never forget what Mr. D has taught me both about teaching and life and although he was only a part of my life for a very short time, he may have made one of the biggest impacts of all.
Throughout my education, I’ve also come across many teacher’s who didn’t put forth their best efforts as well. Every day would be a monotonous routine; sitting down, taking out notebooks, and taking notes as the teacher spoke only to take a test a few weeks later. This isn’t how education ought to be and it’s most likely the reason so many students have become so disinterested in school. Growing up, there were some classes I would become very disinterested in and my grades would reflect it. As a teacher, I want to always keep my students interested using collaborative learning and hands on experience to help students learn more by doing than showing. I also not only want to be a teacher, but be a person that my students feel comfortable coming to for advice or just to share something with. I really look forward to my career in education and hope I can have as big of an impact on my students as some of my teachers had on me.
In my first year in high school, I debated on whether to take honors biology as a freshman or begin in a comprehensive science class and take the college prep version as a sophomore. Knowing I had great interest in science, I decided I would take the challenge and take on this difficult class. This is where I met Ms. Meyer, who I can honestly say probably played the most influence on my decision to go into education. From the first day of school, Ms. Meyer had us exploring the world of science and learning through a variety of hands on activities and experiments. If a student had a question, rather than always explaining the answer she would show us by conducting an experiment. I wasn’t always the best student, mainly because I would become disinterested with the material. But Ms. Meyer really did a great job of finding fun and exciting ways to teach the even the most complex of material. Many of us saw Ms. Meyer not only as our favorite teacher, but also as a good friend and mentor. During study periods or after school, students would go to her room to do homework and talk to her about their sports and activities that were coming up, along with stuff that pertained to outside school. After having a rough time in middle school staying focused on my academics, Ms. Meyer really helped me to strive to my potential and taught me quality values I’ll likely never forget. As I go into education, I seek to share all the values and methods of teaching that Ms. Meyer has instilled on me.
A second person who truly influenced my decision to go into education was Mr. Stephen Desposito. He was a professor at the University of Rhode Island, and he was my professor for EDC 102, my first education class. I took the class just as an elective, knowing I would be interested in it and hoping to learn some things along the way. Little did I know how much of an impact he would have on me ultimately persuading me to change my major. Mr. D, as we called him, came into class teaching us how to really reach students in school. As a teacher, principal, and now college professor, he had many experiences with children in teaching and shared them with us. He often talked about how rewarding it felt to even touch one child’s life through teaching. It was through his stories and teachings that I realized that I too wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. Although Mr. D was only in my live for a few short months, I always looked up to him as both a mentor and a person who ultimately taught me what teaching was all about. Unfortunately, Mr. D passed away a few months after the conclusion of our class. I will never forget what Mr. D has taught me both about teaching and life and although he was only a part of my life for a very short time, he may have made one of the biggest impacts of all.
Throughout my education, I’ve also come across many teacher’s who didn’t put forth their best efforts as well. Every day would be a monotonous routine; sitting down, taking out notebooks, and taking notes as the teacher spoke only to take a test a few weeks later. This isn’t how education ought to be and it’s most likely the reason so many students have become so disinterested in school. Growing up, there were some classes I would become very disinterested in and my grades would reflect it. As a teacher, I want to always keep my students interested using collaborative learning and hands on experience to help students learn more by doing than showing. I also not only want to be a teacher, but be a person that my students feel comfortable coming to for advice or just to share something with. I really look forward to my career in education and hope I can have as big of an impact on my students as some of my teachers had on me.
Nicely done. Mr. D. was an exceptional educator.